HEARING THROUGH HAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 June 1927, Page 10

HEARING THROUGH HAND

DOCTOR’S STRANGE PATIENTS. A statement by M. Jules Romaine, in his book, “Eyeless Sight: A Study of Extra-Retinal Vision,” that he has trained people to read with their chests and to see people with the backs of their heads or the palms of their hands, has caused not a little sensation. Yet it is not a new thing; for, in medical records, there are many cases of seeing without eyes still more startling than any described by M. Romaine. Some years ago a Scotchwoman was subject to mysterious attacks, in which she lost her sight temporarily; but, in spite of this handicap, she was able to “see” through the medium of other senses, as well as ever.

Thus we are told by a clergyman, who saw her daily at the time: “She can distinguish all colours, by day and night, with the greatest correctness. She can not only read, with the greatest. rapidity, writing or music in a pitch-dark room, by the mere passing of the fingers over it, but she is able to read the contents of any manuscript by merely laying her hands on the page, without tracing the lines or letters. 1 have frequently seen her read notes by placing them in contact with her neck, foot, or the back of her hand.” In another case, recorded by Dr. Peletin. a French physician —-that of a cataleptic woman patient—the seat of all Hie senses was transferred _to the solar plexus and the extremities of the lingers and toes. Thus, when a playing card was placed on the solar plexus, she at once said: “1 see the Queen of Spades.” Other cards similarly placed, she described with equal accuracy, until the whole pack was exhausted. If a watch (which, like the cards, she was not allowed to see) was placed in the same position, the woman told the time immediately; and she similarly read the entire contents of a. long letter she had never seen before. Other tests proved that she could taste and smell through the tips of her fingers amS toes, although the normal senses were in complete abeyance. Not only is it possible, under certain conditions, to see without eyes, to taste, and to smell; it seems equally possible to hear without ears. Thus, in the case of a woman, a patient in a Bologna hospital, the body, we are told, was altogether insensible, even to the most intense and painful physical impressions.

The patient could hear no sound, however loud,'which reached her by the ears; but, if spoken to, even in the lowest whisper, directed on the hollow of the hand, or the sole of her foot, she heard perfectly the words addressed to her. With her eyes closed, or even bandaged, she recognised objects and their colours in the same way; could read letters, tell the lime from a. watch, and identify objects placed in contact with the sole of her foot or the palm of her hand.